Cop's actions don't warrant dismissal

Updated 11:49 pm, Tuesday, June 19, 2012

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Eric Peters (Schenectady Police Department)

Eric Peters (Schenectady Police Department)

Cop's actions don't warrant dismissal

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SCHENECTADY— Officer Eric Peters showed poor judgment in his public behavior but doesn't deserve to be fired because there is not enough evidence to support department charges that he assaulted his fiancee on St. Patrick's Day 2011, a hearing officer found.

In a 59-page ruling, hearing officer Jeffrey Selchick recommended that four internal charges of misconduct and incompetence be dismissed and that Peters, listed in the document as the respondent, return to work. The 13-year veteran of the force, who comes from a family of cops, is currently on paid leave stemming from the off-duty incident.

The confrontation between Peters, 36, and his 43-year-old fiancee, Bonnie Crandall, occurred outside their Park Place apartment near Union College.

Prosecutors argued that Peters grabbed Crandall by the neck and punched her several times until she ended up with a bloody nose while they were inside her pickup truck with tinted windows.

The couple denied Peters ever hit her and that instead she suffered that bloody nose after an accidental collision with her boss as the two danced at a Troy pub.

In January, a jury acquitted Peters of misdemeanors related to allegations that he punched the woman several times while off-duty. Some of the same evidence and witnesses were used at the disciplinary hearing that occurred over the winter.

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"In sum, the hearing officer finds that there is a lack of substantial evidence in the record to support the central allegations against respondent," Selchick states in Monday's decision.

Selchick indicates that the "very loud and public argument with Crandall, on a night known for intoxication, is not viewed by this hearing officer as appropriate behavior for a police officer."

He also determined Crandall's version of the March 17 altercation as credible.

"The hearing officer must say that Crandall came across as the type of person who would not allow someone else to hit her multiple times and not either fight back, or stay with a person who struck her, or engage in a cover-up of such an assault," Selchick wrote. He also said the configuration of the inside of the truck, the fact that its windows were heavily tinted and happened in the dark of the evening made it difficult for the two main eyewitnesses to get a clear view of the dispute.

Mayor Gary McCarthy said he planned Wednesday to review the decision with the command staff, but it's unlikely his administration would challenge it.

"The odds tend to be against a municipality without incurring additional costs," he added. "I'm looking to put this matter to rest."

Attorney Kevin Luibrand, who represented Peters, said his client's first question after learning of the decision Tuesday morning was when he could return to work.

"Eric is one of the good cops; he has an exceptional record and has distinguished himself," said Luibrand, adding that several law enforcement agencies have approached Peters about hiring him. "I think Eric lost some of the benefit of the doubt other people might have received based on some old scores between some people in the department and his father." Luibrand declined to elaborate.

Police Chief Mark Chaires took exception Tuesday to some of what he perceived as slights to the department by Luibrand.

"He can't elaborate because it's groundless innuendo," said Chaires. "This case was brought to us, reluctantly, by two independent witnesses, whom I still believe. We take each case individually and prosecute each of them in good faith. We accept the decision, and we're moving on."

Peters' great-grandfather and grandfather were police chiefs and his father retired as a captain. A brother is also on the force.